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Tag: el-rufai

  • 2019: El-Rufai, Senators’ misuse of power, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    What’s happening (happened) in the Kaduna chapter of the All Progressives Congress, and at the Senate of the National Assembly is what warrants the charge of politics being a dirty game. Whereas it should be otherwise: the politicians, and not politics, are dirty!

    How do you classify the action of Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State in ordering, and allegedly personally supervising the pulling down of a house belonging to Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna North) because the lawmaker heads a faction of the state APC, which queried and suspended the governor for six months “for anti-party activities”?

    Similarly, how do you justify the sacking of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, as chair of the Northern Senators’ Forum, on the strength of his leading some senators to question the Senate reordering of the sequence of elections for 2019?

    Let’s give the backgrounds to the plots. The Kaduna State APC has been factionalized from the get-go of the government of Governor el-Rufai, first between the governor and his bloc of the party and that of Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central), and later between el-Rufai’s group and the camp of Senator Hunkuyi.

    Meaning there are three factions tugging at the heart and soul of the APC in the state. Flowing from this division, accusations and counter-accusations, queries and counter-queries and suspensions and counter-suspensions have taken the place of advancing good governance, and growth of the party in Kaduna.

    The culmination of these political skirmishes was the suspension of Governor el-Rufai by the Senator Hunkuyi APC faction, and el-Rufai’s government’s retaliatory destruction of the lawmaker’s house that served as his group’s secretariat, which opened shop barely a week earlier.

    And what reason was advanced by the Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency (KASUPDA) for the leveling of Hunkuyi’s house? According to the Director General of the Kaduna Geographic Information System (KADGIS), Mr. Ibrahim Husseini, the property was removed for “flagrant violations of land use and non-payment of ground rent since 2010.”

    Why was it so compelling for the KASUPDA to resort to pulling down the property over indebtedness just after its owner, Senator Hunkuyi, chaperoned its APC faction to query and suspend Governor el-Rufai from the party? Why didn’t the agency seek lawful redress in court or, in the worst-case scenario, seal off the property until the ground rent was settled?

    If we are pissed with Governor el-Rufai’s authoritarianism that brooks no impeachment of its absolute power, we should also scoff at the bellipotent display by the Senate, which threatened to deal with the Senator Adamu-headed recalcitrant members for insinuating that the new sequence for the 2019 elections was “directed at an individual.”

    But unlike Governor el-Rufai that shoots from the hip, and doesn’t hide his hand in the cookie jar, the Senate has initiated its “punishment for the disgruntled senators” through a proxy – the Northern Senators’ Forum that Senator Adamu chaired until last Wednesday.

    However, employing the el-Rufai tactic, the senators suddenly remembered that the Adamu executive had “chopped” the N70 million it inherited coming into office. So, if the former governor of Nasarawa State did not accuse the Senate of directing its reordering of the election sequence at checkmating President Muhammadu Buhari’s aspiration for a second term, the forum would bury the “fraud” from public knowledge?

    How about Senator Ali Wakil’s debunking of Adamu’s removal as a collective decision of the Northern Senators, whose letter to the Senate was read by the presiding officer and Senate Deputy President, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, without publicizing the number of signatories and their names? Doesn’t that smell of forgery, perhaps abetted by the Senate?

    To think that in the wake of the destruction of Senator Hunkuyi’s property, the Senate was very vocal in condemning Governor el-Rufai and his APC-led administration’s action, as related by Senator Sani, a professed Nemesis of el-Rufai! This was how Senator Ekweremadu summed up the governor’s exploit at plenary:

    “This is not open to debate. We need to condemn this action. I send my sympathies to Hunkuyi. This democracy has no place for tyranny and impunity. If we decide to go on the road of democracy, we must accept some of the things that come with it. One is the rule of law. If we have any grievances, we should use the courts.”

    A noteworthy and timely admonition, only that the lawmakers sooner fell into the same trap of employing “tyranny and impunity,” which “democracy has no place for.” Wouldn’t this rank them among the hypocrites, whom Jesus describes as those who give alms (Matt 6:1-4), pray (Matt 6:5-6), and fast (Matt 6:16-18) in public “in order that people may see them”?

    Besides, the senators appear to forget the adage: “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,” which Wikipedia says meshes well with the Golden Rule, or ethic of reciprocity, often stated as “Do unto others as you wish to be done for you.” (See Matt 7:12; Luke 6:31)

    All said, it’s clear, even to the most apolitical in the society, that the fights in the Kaduna State chapter of the APC, and the shadow-boxing in the Senate have all, and everything to do with the 2019 elections in less than one year away.

    But while pursuing their aspirations, politicians should heed Senator Ekweremadu’s entreaty “not to overheat the polity and imperil our democracy… Our courts can be trusted to deliver justice. We hope this (malicious destruction of property) will not happen again.”

    That’s a word being enough for the wise, and especially for politicians to make politics clean rather than dirty!

     

    * Mr. Ehichioya Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • 2019: The men who want Muhammadu Buhari’s job

    By Mideno Bayagbon

    As at the last count, no woman has expressed intention to be president of Nigeria come 2019. It is still a man’s world. So far, nine men are known to be eyeing the seat of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in 2019.The field is still open though for more to come seeking their parties’ nomination for the race proper.And largely too some of these ambitions are laced with bareface intrigues,implicitly running with the hare and hunting with hound.

    ATIKU ABUBAKAR:

    2019: Little Doubt That Atiku is Ready, By Lami Ladan
    Top of the list as at today is former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who has been in the wings, fuelling his ambition to be Nigeria’s president. Considered to be one of the most prepared to be president, Atiku Abubakar is perhaps the only one among the top eight contenders who has a ready blueprint, who has been in the saddle, who has a wide network of political allies, funding ability, and other prerequisites working for him. A little confession: I was a member of a think tank he set up more than 10 years ago to design a cross sectoral roadmap on how to jump start the Nigerian economy and polity. Each sector of Nigeria’s political economy had experts sit down and design strategic thrusts. At the end of the exercise, if he had become president in 2007, Atiku Abubakar, a man who specialises in tapping the best brains to man specific duties, would have hit the ground running from day one.

    But his perceived impatience in the years leading to the 2003 re-election of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, to whom he was deputy, has been his major undoing. Recall that but for the deft strategic, and some say, cunning military strategies deployed by the former military leader, Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar would have easily supplanted his boss. The former Vice President had successfully sold what he called the Mandela option, in which he wanted President Obasanjo to do just a term and hand over to him, to most Governors of the day. The war of attrition that followed has left seemingly indelible bruises from which the Adamawa political chieftain has yet to recover.

    A mountain called Olusegun Obasanjo has been Atiku’s albatross. So has been the smear campaign which painted him as a very corrupt politician, a stigma that has stuck to him despite no indictment, or corruption charges never been brought against him in any Nigerian court. There are, however, indications that the United States government has a dossier on him, allegedly supplied by the EFCC under Ribadu, then working for Obasanjo. Infact, one of Atiku’s wives, Jennifer, had to relocate from the US to Dubai in the heat of the investigations on Atiku. I am unable to confirm if the US has ever since then granted the former vice president an entry visa.
    He has been a political orphan more or less since then. For a man who inherited the awesome Shehu Musa Yar’Adua political machinery, a man deeply connected and seemingly liked nationwide, his baggage is daunting; and his seeming political prostitution, of changing political base ever so often, are major obstacles which stand against his ambition to be the candidate of the PDP in the coming elections.

    AMINU TAMBUWAL:

    Sokoto Govt, Navy team up to build eco-friendly classrooms

    A deeply ambitious man ready to break every necessary egg to make his political omelette, Aminu Tambuwal first climbed the national political limelight when he schemed, successfully, against his then political party, PDP, under whose auspices he aspired and got elected to the House of Representatives. Along with Emeka Ihedioha, they successfully imposed themselves as Speaker and Deputy Speaker against their party nominated South West candidate, Mulikat Akande. In the peculiar PDP zoning formula, the Southwest was to produce the Speaker of the House, the north, Senate President; while Jonathan reigned as president. Geared on by disgruntled political leaders in the north and through alliance with opposition members in the house, and adroitly with the Jagaban of Southwest politics, Bola Tinubu, who was then also building himself as the new leader of the southwest, and of opposition, they rubbished Jonathan, painting him as an ineffectual president, a tag he never lived down until he was defeated by Buhari in 2015.

    Seen then as the embodiment of the north’s angst against Jonathan, who they never wanted to succeed the demised President Umaru Yar’Adua, it was not a surprise that he was one of the arrowheads of the rebels who dumped the PDP for APC.

    Cunning, amiable, humble and very strategic, Tambuwal has been plotting a presidential dream for the past eight years. To his credit, he had wanted to contest for the presidency in 2015 but was prevailed upon by political leaders in the north to tamper his ambition and allow the then very popular Muhammadu Buhari to give the north the opportunity of wrestling back the presidency. He grudgingly accepted the offer to be governor of Sokoto. He, however, didn’t drop his ambition.

    That is why it was no surprise that though he won election as an APC governor, he formed an early alliance with PDP’s Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State with an eye on a presidential run in 2019. It has been clear to him that with Buhari in the saddle as president, he stands no chance in the APC of getting the presidential ticket for the 2019 race. So he became amoebic: APC by day, and PDP by night. He is the major candidate of the Nyesom Wike wing of the PDP: a major force that installed the party chairman, Uche Secondus. That Tambuwal has not defected to the PDP openly is another of his strategic but calculated moves. His camp has adopted the “wait and see” attitude before taking a plunge for the PDP. They are waiting to see what will become of the heavy pressure on President Buhari not to re-contest the presidency. Will Buhari bow? The Tambuwal group believes strongly that he stands a good chance of succeeding Buhari, should that happen. So they wait.

    EL RUFAI:

    2019: APC queries El-Rufai, suspends three key allies over illegal party activities
    Also waiting in the wings is Kaduna State governor, Nasir El Rufai. No one’s ambition to succeed President Buhari is as secretly open as that of Governor El Rufai. But he pretends to being an ostrich, with head seemingly heavily buried in the sand in the quest to make President Buhari not just to contest but win the presidential race in 2019. Observers believe El Rufai is being clever by a half. True, he will be one of the major inheritors should Buhari decides not to re-contest the presidency. Deep down, El Rufai is also preparing, just incase. For him, like Tambuwal, Buhari not contesting for a second term is his best chance for the presidency. For with the peculiarities of our politics, should Buhari win the 2019 elections, that will effectively delay his and Tambuwal’s aspiration by between eight to sixteen years.

    El Rufai’s presidential ambition predates Tambuwal’s. In league with Ribadu, they almost railroaded then President Obasanjo into handing the presidential ticket to him for the 2007 elections. In a bid to actualise this aim, El Rufai and Ribadu connived to destroy the ambitions of most of the contenders and clear favourites for the presidency in Obasanjos second term. They easily put paid to the aspirations of Dr Peter Odili, Donald Duke, Atiku Abubakar and a host of others. In his widely acknowledged book: The Accidental Public Servant, El Rufai did not hide his disappointment at not being handed the presidency by Obasanjo whom he had typically pandered to in hope of taking over from him. Watching him now, it appears he has adopted the same tactics as a similar scenario is playing out.Nevertheless, he has the uphill task of managing his mindset and his nonpolitical temperament . His suspension by a faction of the Kaduna State APC, demolition of the faction’s secretariat and disposition to the Southern Kaduna affair are in view.

    BUKOLA SARAKI

    Saraki acknowledges receipt of Buhari’s resumption letter

    The senate president has never hidden his desire to vie for the presidency of the country. Troubled on all sides in the APC, most observers believe it is only a matter of time before he dumps the APC and likely jump ship to the PDP from whence he came.

    Stubborn, strategic and wealthy, the current “owner’ of Kwara politics has his eyes firmly on contesting the presidency. His ambition is buoyed by the fact that despite all efforts to remove him from the exalted senate presidency which he virtually hijacked for himself, he has remained unshaken.

    The only drawback is that most of his allies with whom he crossed over to the APC, especially people like Rotimi Amaechi with whom he used to enjoy the best of chummy relationships, have since abandoned him, preferring to anchor their political fate on President Muhammadu Buhari.
    On the counter, however, a majority of senators still stand behind him.

    This is a clear indication, observers say, that should he throw his hat into the ring, his campaign will be one of the most formidable. This perhaps explains why the powers that be are using all available arsenals at their disposal to try to cage him, though unsuccessfully till date. But whether he will survive all the court cases ranged against him is yet to be determined.

    SULE LAMIDO

    Court returns Lamido’s case file to central registry for reassignmentMoney laundering: Court adjourns Sule Lamido’s trial till Nov 15

    Former foreign minister and governor, Sule Lamido, is seen as one of the brightest hopes of the north to ascend the presidency. He is also an Obasanjo protege. Indeed, he is one of the three main contenders being positioned by the Obasanjo Group to tackle President Buhari in next year’s election. Tall, urbane and well spoken of, Sule Lamido, one of the original conspirators against President Goodluck Jonathan, but refused to go along with the five other governors to join the APC, preferring to remain in the PDP. A man of the people, schooled in the talakawa politics of the late legend, Alhaji Aminu Kano, he is very popular in Kano where he resides.
    Lamido while opening his presidential Campaign office in Birnin kudu area of Jigawa recently vowed: “There is no soul on earth that can stop the will of Allah if He desired that I should be President of this country no matter the intimidation or harassment through court persecution, I shall certainly be.” This is apparently in response to the fact the Buhari government has been relentless in a tussle of sorts with him. In fact, the EFCC has been on his neck charging him and his two children to court on corruption charges.

    RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO:

    Kwankwaso suspends planned visit to Kano amidst security concerns

    Two term governor of Kano State, former defence minister and now senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, almost beat the then General Muhammadu Buhari for the APC presidential ticket during the primaries. With a strong base in Kano and friends across the country, Kwankwaso is in the hustling to be the presidential candidate of either the PDP or APC in the coming presidential elections. Nevertheless, the same forces which thwarted his ambition in 2014 have enlarged and gathered more muscles. More than just his old friend, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and Ahmed Bola Tinubu who had to use all within their power to sway delegates who Kwankwaso had mobilised to ensure his victory, from their charted path, he faces a more formidable opponents today.

    A taste of that has been his lot since he lost the ticket. His protege and former deputy now governor of Kano State, has fully become his most unbelievable traducer! He is making Kwankwaso’s home base his most trident opposition. The Kwankwasiya political machinery which Kwankwaso built to horn his political ambition is today in tatters, no thanks to the unseen hands of Aso Rock. Unforgiving and still seething with anger, Aso Rock has done all within the power circle there to decimate the Kwankwaso political empire.
    As I noted elsewhere, the fear of a Kwankwaso’s presidential bid sends jitters down the spine of the Buhari inner caucus team. It is this same team close to Aso Rock, who accuse him of disloyalty and of not cooperating with the Buhari administration since he was defeated at the Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos during the APC primaries. This is the same team that has fomented trouble for him with the party structure and even in his home state, Kano. They have not forgotten that but for the war chest raised by Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi, Kwankwaso could have easily defeated Buhari for the candidacy.
    But that is also a plus for Kwankwaso, it has made him one of the courted brides in some groups that want to see the end of the seemingly ineffectual Buhari regime. Already, in the PDP, in the Obasanjo instigated group and in National Intervention Movement, he enjoys some level of support.

    IBRAHIM HASSAN DANKWAMBO

    2019: Arewa Youths beg Atiku, Lamido, Makarfi, others to 'step down' for Dankwambo

    Former Accountant General of the Federation and current governor of Gombe State, the youthful Ibrahim Dankwambo is perhaps the aspirant with the longest hold on the top echelon of the People Democratic Party. To his credit, controversial preacher and Catholic priest, founder of the adoration ministry, the Rev Fr. Mbaka is perhaps the first person to give public voice to the aspiration of the two term governor. The Catholic priest early in the year, while lambasting the Buhari regime, claimed that God has anointed the Gombe governor as possibly the next president of Nigeria. Speaking glowingly of his achievements in Gombe, the radical Catholic Reverend Father asked Nigerians to look towards Dankwambo for the next leadership of the country. But a coalition of Gombe State indigenes soon came out to laugh at the claim that Dankwambo has performed near magic in the development of the Gombe state. Led by Jibrin Muhammed, the coalition said Dankwambo’s regime has been an unmitigated disaster and hence he is unfit to govern Nigeria.

    Nevertheless, Alhaji Dankwambo, from close watch of his activities in the past three years, has never stopped canvassing support for his ambition across the country. Infact, apart from Fayose and Nyesom Wike, he was one of the pillars of the PDP during its troubling factional days. But insiders in the party are not too happy with what some of them consider the accountant’s tightfistedness. He is said not to have contributed much to the funding and running off the party,hence they consider his ambition as out of place. Not relenting, he his hoping on the support of his fellow PDP governors to see his ambition through.

    AHMED MAIKAIFI, erstwhile interim chairman of the PDP is perhaps the leading aspirant in the party today. PDP chieftains spoken to believe that the former governor utilised his tenure as interim chairman of the party to mobilise a large following behind his desire to be candidate of the PDP in the 2019 presidential elections. He is said to be the candidate to beat in the party. The only seeming obstacle to his ambition appears to be the Wike led group who are actively working for the aspiration of the Sokoto State governor, Tambuwal. His health is also a cause of concern.

    Though it is too early now to give an assertive assessment of the strengths of each of these aspirants and who will likely emerge to contest against President Buhari, it is nevertheless clear that as the days go by, eruptions and implosions will be the order of the day in the two main parties. Obasanjo inspired Third Force and all the other emerging political tendencies will eventually strengthen some of these candidates, while most of them will kiss the dust.

  • El-Rufai’s suspension laughable – APC

    All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State has described the Senator Hunkuyi led faction of the party as illegitimate, saying that, their purported suspension of Governor Nasir El-Rufai is laughable and should be disregarded.

    This was also as the party said, sales of forms for the party primaries ahead of the Kaduna State local government elections slated for May 12, will commence this week.

    This was part of the resolutions of the party’s State Executive Committee (SEC) meeting held last Friday.

    Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the SEC meeting at the party Secretariat on Ali Akilu road, Kaduna on Monday, Acting Secretary of the party, Yahaya Baba Pate said, the meeting adopted the recommendations of the State Working Committee on the local government elections and commended the ongoing registration of party members.

    According Pate, the party is set to roll out the timetable in few days time, for the party primaries ahead of the local government elections.

    Reacting to the suspension of Governor El-Rufai by a faction of the party, Pate said, the ‘so called’ chairman of the faction, Danladi Wada is an imposter. Saying such person lacks power to suspend any member of the party.

    According to him, “the authentic chairman of the party is Alhaji Shuaibu Idris. He is the chairman recognised by the national leadership of the party. Just last week, he received an invitation letter from the national secretariat, signed by the National Chairman, Chief Odigie Oyegun, inviting him for National Executive Committee meeting next week.

    “The Senator Hunkuyi led group is illegitimate. As far as we are concerned, most of them have been expelled including the so called factional chairman, Danladi Wada. As for Senator Hunkuyi, he is under six months suspension, because we cannot expel him. Only the national leadership can expel him, because he is a political office holder.” he said.

  • 2019: APC queries El-Rufai, suspends three key allies over illegal party activities

    The Kaduna State Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday, said it had issued a query to Governor Nasiru El-Rufa’i for alleged anti-party activities.

    A statement by the party’s Acting State Chairman, Danladi Wada said the decision was taken after full investigation and consultation with stakeholders and elders of the party.

    “His Excellency, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai has been queried and we are expecting him to answer the query within 48 hours. Failure to do that, the state working committee will seat down and deliberate.

    “We queried Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai for his anti-party activates and anti-human activities.”

    Wada also announced the suspension of the Special Adviser to the governor on Political Matters, Uba Sani; the Commissioner for Finance, Audu Kwari, and the party’s Acting Secretary, Yahaya Baba-Pate.

    He explained that the three allies of the governor were suspended for 18 months.

    “The letters would be delivered to these personalities today,’’ the acting APC chairman said

  • Kaduna APC queries El-Rufa’i, suspends 3 key allies

    The Kaduna State Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Thursday said it had issued a query to Gov. Nasiru El-Rufa’i for alleged anti party activities.

    A statement by the party’s Acting State Chairman, Danladi Wada said the decision was taken after full investigation and consultation with stakeholders and elders of the party.

    “His Excellency, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai has been queried and we are expecting him to answer the query within 48 hours. Failure to do that, the state working committee will seat down and deliberate.

    “We queried Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai for his anti party activates and anti human activities.”

    Wada also announced the suspension of the Special Adviser to the governor on Political Matters, Uba Sani; the Commissioner for Finance, Audu Kwari, and the party’s Acting Secretary, Yahaya Baba-Pate.

    He explained that the three allies of the governor were suspended for 18 months.

    “The letters would be delivered to these personalities today,’’ the acting APC chairman said.

  • Restructuring: El-Rufai led committee presents report, recommends establishment of state police, resource control, others

    The Governor Nasir El-Rufai led committee on restructuring on Thursday presented its report to the National Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun with some recommendations aimed at making the states and local governments more independent.

    Some of the key recommendations are resource control, making local government an affair of states, constitutional amendment to allow merger of states, state police, state court of appeal and independent candidacy.

    The committee was set up in August 2017 to formulate the position of the party on restructuring which was clamoured for by most influential Nigerians.

    The committee initially had 10 members but this was later expanded to 23 members.

    According to its mandate, the committee was to distill the true intent and definition of true federalism as promised by the party during the last electioneering campaign, and to take a studied look on the report of the various national conferences, especially that of 2014; and come up with recommendations.

    Submitting the report at the party’s secretariat, Mr. El-Rufai said 8,014 people were engaged in the process of their research and that Nigerians indicated interest in 24 issues.

    Out of these 24 items, the committee made recommendation on 13 in its report, which has four volumes.

    “After four months of rigorous research, we are pleased to inform the chairman we have completed our assignment and are here to present our report. Our report is in four volumes,” the committee chairman said.

    “The report is in four volumes with Volume One containing background information of the research and recommendations; Volume Two, Action plans from the research to implement its resolution and draft of bills; Volume 3, Media reports and the result of the online survey of the issue; and Volume Four, the appendix- summary of all memoranda received.

    “I’ll like to highlight some principal recommendation by the committee. We articulated 14 issues re-occuring in previous conferences.

    “At the end of our rigorous research, debates and deliberations, we came up with 24 items that Nigerians have indicated interest views that balance our federation.

    “These items are; creation of states, merger of states, delegation principle, fiscal federalism, devolution of power and resources between state, federal and local governments, federating units, form of government, independent candidacy, land tenure system, local government autonomy ,power sharing and rotation, resource control, types of legislature, demand for affirmation for vulnerable groups;people with disabilities, women and youth, ministerial appointment, citizenship, state constitution, community participation, minimum wage, governance, judiciary, state re-alignment and border adjustment, circular status of the federation; and referendum.

    “We articulated only 13 issues from the various opinions expressed by Nigerians in our engagement, identified these 24 issues for which the committee deliberated and has made recommendations in the report.

    “We went ahead to look at these recommendations to convert them into concrete actions that the party, government and the national assembly can take to re-balance our federation.

    These items are:

    Merger of states

    “The first item that we thought needed legislative action is merger of states because creation of states is already in the Constitution; so there is a procedure, so there was no action needed.

    “However, it is appropriate to point out, Mr. Chairman, that only 36 percent of Nigerians want more states created. so majority of Nigerians don’t want creation of states.”

    “So, the first recommendation for which we have proposed a draft bill for constitution amendment is the merger of states. Though there was no consensus from stakeholders on the merger of states, we felt that we should propose a bill that allows state to merge and it is up to the party, the National Assembly and the people of Nigeria to decide on that. But we drafted a bill that is there for the party and the government to move on with.

    Delegation principle

    “The second that we have considered is the delegation principle. Here, it is recommended that the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act be amended to vest the commission with the power and responsibility to periodically review the delegation formula and make proposal to the President who shall then table the said before the National Assembly for legislation.

    “We have therefore drafted a bill that will expand section six sub section one of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission act to give them that power. The bill is in Volume 2 of our report.

    Fiscal federalism

    “We also have recommendation on fiscal federalism and revenue allocation in which we propose amending section 162 and sub-section two of the Constitution; as well as amend the revenue allocation of revenue Federation Account Act to give more revenue to the states and reduce the federal government’s share of revenue.

    “This again is what we got as feedback from majority of Nigerians that the state should get more revenue and the federal government should slim down a little.

    Devolution of power

    “This recommendation, has to do with the devolution of powers. There was overwhelming popular demand for the devolution of power to the states by the federal government, and the committee recommends the same.

    “Accordingly, we have proposed that the Second Schedule of Part One and Part Two of the Constitution should be amended to transfer some items that are now on the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List that will enable both then states and the federal government to legislate on them.

    “Under devolution of power, there are items that were recommended to be moved from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent.

    Here are the items:

    ” 10 items have been identified for the movement from the Executive List to the Concurrent List.

    – Food and Drugs

    “Food, drugs, poison, narcotics and psychotropic substances. We are proposing an amendment to the Constitution for the president to keep narcotics and psychotropic should be left on the Exclusive List while food drug and poison should be moved to Concurrent List so that state can legislate on these items in addition to the federal government. At the moment only the federal government can legislate on them.

    – Fingerprint identification of criminals

    “The second item is finger print and identification of criminal records. This is currently on the Exclusive List. The committee for feedback received from Nigerians recommendations that they should be moved to the Concurrent List.”

    -Registration of business names

    “The third item is registration of business names. Registration of business names for firms that want to operate throughout Nigeria should be done at the federal level. For small businesses that wan to work exclusively within the state, they should be registerable at the level of the state. we recommend that that should be moved to the Concurrent List as well.”

    -Labour matters

    “We have also recommended that labour matters should be moved to the Concurrent List such that the federal government and the sate can legislate on these matters. Labour, including trade unions, industrial relations, safety and well-being of labour, industrial disputes and prescribing minimal wage and industrial arbitration should be in the state. Meaning every state can determine its minimum wage.”

    – Mines and minerals.

    “The fifth item is mines and minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, geological and natural gas. This should be moved to the Concurrent List. However, all offshore oil shall remain absolutely vested in the government of the federation.

    “I think it is time to take these bold steps and move away from over-centralisation.

    -The police.

    “Item six, police. We have also moved to the Concurrent List. We are recommending that police should be both federal and state.”

    -Prisons.

    “We have also recommended that prisons should be moved from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List, where we can have federal prisons and state prisons. This will make more prisons available and reduce the burden of the federal government.”

    -Public holiday

    ” Item eight is public holiday. We want public holiday to be moved from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List so that there will be federal public holidays and state public holidays. This is already happening unconstitutionally. This will just make the action of state governments lawful and legal and avoid confrontation from the federal government.

    -Stamp duties

    “Finally, we are recommending that stamp duties, legislation on stamp duties should be moved to the Concurrent List. The state will only legislate on stamp duties only for transactions involving individual s and business needs but not limited liabilities that are incorporated in the government of the federation.

    “We believe that if these amenddment are passed by the National Assembly, they will significantly re- balance our federation, devolve more powers to the states, reduce the burden of the federal government and make our country work better.

    “We have taken into consideration reports of all constitutional conferences and put this before Nigerians in 2017 and this is the feedback that we got, and we drafted the bill that will enable that to be passed by the National Assembly and the state Houses of Assembly.”

    Independent candidacy

    “The next recommendation is on independent candidacy. The committee knows that majority of respondents are opposed, surprisingly to independent candidacy. However, the committee still recommends that the party should support the demand for widening the political space by allowing for independent candidates. We believe that this will make the political party more honest.

    “We have included in the bill that no one that wants to run as an independent candidate should be a member of any political party six months to the election. We have put enough safeguards in our recommendation to ensure that independent candidacy is not a platform for opportunism.

    “We have put four safeguards. One; anybody that wants to stand for elective positions as an independent candidate, should not be a registered member of any political party at least six months before the date set for the election for which he intends to contest.

    “Number two, his nominators will not be members of any registered political party. Three; independent candidate must pay an amount to INEC in the same range as the non refundable fees payable by candidates sponsored by political parties to their parties. So instead of paying to the parties, you now pay to INEC.

    “Finally, the candidate must also meet all qualification requirements by the Constitution or any other, which is better than the independent candidate amendment.

    Local government

    “The next recommendation has to do with local government autonomy.

    There are divergent opinions on this. We recommend that the current system of local government administration as provided by the Constitution to be amended and the state be allowed to enact laws to local government that is peculiar to each of them.

    “We propose amendments to sections 7,8,162 of the First Schedule and Fourth Schedule of the Constitution to give effect to our recommendation.”

    “We are by this recognising the federal government which can only be two tiers of government. Having three tiers of government is an arbitration, there is nowhere in the world where our research has shown us there are three tiers of government.”

    Revenue allocation

    “We have also proposed amending Section One of the Allocation of Revenue Federation Act to reflect this reality. We have also proposed amendment to section 40 to the Value Added Tax Act. They are in Volume Two.

    “There is the question of what people call resource control. The committee noted the growing agitation by states to exercise control over natural resources within their respective territories and pay taxes and royalties to the federal government. If this recommendation is taken, then there will consequential amendment.

    Citizenship.

    “The issue of citizenship has been addressed by our report.’

    Ministerial appointment.

    “Arising from this is the issues of ministerial appointment. The president should have the freedom to nominate ministers from any part of the country, subject to confirmation by the Senate.

    Judiciary

    “There are also recommendations on the judiciary. the National Judicial Council as the single judicial in Nigeria is operating a unitary judicial system in a federal system. So we have proposed amendment to the Constitution to create a state judicial council that will appoint an discipline judges in a state while the National Judicial Council will exercise control over the appointments, discipline of judges of the federal government only. By that, we have proposed the creation of a state court of appeal.”

    State re-alignment and boundary adjustment

    “We have proposed constitutional amendments on state re-alignment and boundary adjustment to section A sub-section 2 and A sub-section a 4 if required .”

    Referendum

    “We have a constitutional amendment to enable a referendum to be undertaken on national issues. Right now, our constitution has no provision for referendum except in the creation of states.”

    The chairman of the committee concluded by thanking the APC Chairman for properly choosing the member of the committee and also appreciating the members of the committee responsible for the recommendation.

    Mr. Oyegun who received the report, praised the committee for a job well done and promised that the report would be considered and a decision made before the middle of February.

    “Today, we have a report produced by some of the most intelligent, young Nigerians dealing with the most fundamental challenges.

    “The concept is accepted, the need for it is accepted but what exactly do we mean. are we talking on a federation based on eight zones, six zones or what?.

    “From the presentation of the chairman of this committee, everyone now has an idea of what the APC stands for when you say true federalism.”

    “It is still going to go through the mill but what I will promise you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for you hard work that you have put in for four to five months, is that this report is going to get expeditious consideration by the party.”

    “I am going to promise that before the middle of February, it would have been considered and decided upon by the various structures of the party.

    “The NEC and the Caucus of the party and whatever is there after will be presented to the authorities as the considered view and decision of the APC for appropriate implementation.”

  • Illegal migration: No better life outside Nigeria, El-Rufai warns youths

    Governor Nasiru El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State on Wednesday cautioned the youths against migrating illegally out of the country, saying rather, they should remain, work hard and build bright future for themselves.

    The governor, who made the remark when he received officials of NYSC and PAIGAS who paid him a courtesy visit in his office, said the campaign instituted by the two on illegal migration was laudable.

    He asked them to extend the campaign to the Nigerian Governors Forum, to accelerate engagement with the youths and help address the menace.

    “Illegal migration is an unusual type of brain drain with several devastating effects synonymous with modern day slavery.

    “The youth population in Nigeria nurture the wrong impression that Europe and the West are greener, whereas, unknown to them, the condition of living there is hard, unsympathetic and devoid of community life that accommodates the interest of one another.”

    The governor, therefore, advised the youths to liberate themselves from “erroneous sense of entitlement, work hard, acquire necessary knowledge, experience, get involved and seize political authority” as practiced worldwide.

    He pledged to partner with the NYSC and PAIGAS in this respect.

    El-Rufa’i assured the state government would provide additional hostel accommodation and upgrade of facilities at the NYSC Orientation camp in Kaduna.

    Earlier, Amb. Martin Uhomoibhi, the President, Pan-African Institute for Global Affairs and Strategy (PAIGAS), said the group consists of former Nigerians envoys and other imminent Nigerians who are committing themselves to this cause.

    “We have decided to use our wealth of experience and resources to sensitize corps members on the dangers associated with illegal migration.”

    Uhomoibhi expressed appreciation to the NYSC Director-General, Brig. Gen Suleiman Kazaure for accommodating PAIGAS to reach out to serving corps members, as the bulk of illegal migrants were graduates.

  • Teachers’ sack: Suspension of strike action by NUT is victory for public education – El-Rufai

    Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State on Monday said the recent suspension of the strike action embarked upon by the state’s chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) without recalling any of the dismissed teachers is victory for public education system in the state.

    Recall that the NUT, supported by the Nigeria Labour Congress, had called the strike to demand the recall of about 22,000 primary school teachers sacked by the state government for failing a competency test.

    In his first public reaction to the collapse of the NUT strike, Mr. El-Rufai said there was no time to dwell on the euphoria of removing trade union obstacle to better standards in the education sector.

    In a statement signed by the governor’s spokesperson, Samuel Aruwan, Mr. El-Rufai at a meeting with the state’s 23 local government administrators and their Education Secretaries, said the focus must now be on implementing the education reforms in a way that upholds standards and improves the welfare of teachers.

    At the meeting, the state primary education board, SUBEB, chairman, Nasir Umaru, reaffirmed plans for the first batch of new teachers to be appointed by February 2018.

    SUBEB informed the meeting that interviews for applicants who passed the recruitment test conducted on 20 December, 2017 will commence on Wednesday, 24 January.

    ” The interviews will be conducted across the 23 local government areas by panels comprising experienced personnel from the Teacher Development Programme and other professionals,” Mr. Umaru said.

    Mr. El-Rufai said that the education reforms in the state require that a commitment to standards be sustained and new incentives provided for teachers.

    “Among these incentives would be a new salary scale for teachers and provision of houses for teachers posted to rural schools,” he said.

    The governor observed that the difficulty in securing decent accommodation in rural areas has led to over-concentration of teachers in urban centres.

    He said the Ministry of Education will provide designs for construction of buildings with at least six flats for teachers and a bungalow for head-teachers in rural schools.

    On education standards, he said the state had passed a law to establish the Quality Assurance Board to uphold standards in schools, while the state university-owned Kaduna State University, KASU, had been directed to establish an Institute of Education to provide continuous training for teachers.

    He further said that the current recruitment exercise will prioritise teachers of English, Mathematics and the Sciences. To expand the production of such teachers, the governor disclosed that the College of Education, Gidan-Wayawill will adjust its curriculum so that most of its products are trained in Primary Education Studies, Mathematics, English and the Sciences.

    The local government administrators and Education Secretaries commended Mr. El-Rufai for the unwavering manner in which the state government is implementing its education reforms.

    They noted that the governor’s determined stance had defeated trade union power that was being used improperly, and that teachers are now ready for a new phase.

     

  • Mass sack: El-Rufai, NUT reach truce as sacked teachers set to apply

    The Kaduna Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Thursday called off its ten days old strike and directed teachers in the state to resume duties immediately.

    The chairman of the state chapter of the union, Mr. Audi Amba, stated this shortly after the state’s Executive Council emergency meeting in Kaduna.

    Teachers in the state public primary schools went on strike January 8, 2018 following a directive from the NUT in the state that they should go on indefinite strike to force Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s administration to reverse the sacking of over 20,000 of its members for failing a primary four competency test it conducted in June 2017.

    Also, in solidarity with the union, organised labour, led by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, last week (Thursday) defied the huge presence of security operatives to ground the state to protest the sacking of the teachers.

    Amba, while adducing reasons for calling off the strike, said the governor had decided to give the 21,780 teachers said to have failed the Primary Four competency test another opportunity for consideration for recruitment into teaching profession.

    He noted that as a union committed to the support of the state government in its drive for qualitative education, the union had no choice than to call off its 10-day-old strike.

    He commended members for their steadfastness during the struggle; and the leadership of the Labour movement in the country and the general public which identified with their plight.

  • Jonathan denies contributing to El-Rufai’s 2015 campaign fund

    Former President Goodluck has dissociated himself from a report saying the ex-President claimed he contributed to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, campaign fund.

    The ex-President, in a statement issued by his media aide, Ikechukwu Eze, described the report as fake news fabricated by some mischievous elements.

    He also advised media houses to avoid offering their platforms for spread of false information.

    The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a fictitious comment on Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, purportedly made by the ex-President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in which the former President was assumed to have spoken on his alleged contributions to El-Rufai’s campaign funds.

    “This falsehood which was obviously fabricated by some mischievous elements and first circulated early last year by a shady online publication, has unfortunately resurfaced again. This time, a credible online group is sadly the one giving it prominence.

    “We will again wish to entirely dissociate Dr. Jonathan from this fallacious comment which is lacking in all attributes of reason and credibility. We will also like to advise media organisations, especially those that serve as credible sources of information for the public, to always confirm their stories before publishing, to avoid misleading their readers.”